Calisthenic bar



May 30, 1950 J. (.3. CORE, JR 2,509,810

CALISTHENIC BAR Filed Jan. 14, 1948` ../a/y/v bei de.

Patented May 30, 1950 ED STAT Es PATE NT or F1 es CALISTHENIGLBR.

John C. Core, Jr., Huntngtcmva.

ilpliuaticnllnuary 14, 12948, Serial-Nil;

1 Claim.

Tl'his invention relates to* vcallstlienic devices.

i The generalobject of "thieiwention iis to*- iprora; cai'isthenicl bar -mariptdable by'one or hands, .having` aweighty vbody associated therewith, with freedom to move laterally oi the bar or endwise thereof, the inertia of said body being employed to assist or resist muscular effort applied to said bar in manipulating it.

A more specic object of the invention is the provision of a hollow bar containing a weighty body capable of free movement radially of the bar through inertia when the movement of the bar in a direction perpendicular to its axis is suddenly arrested, and capable of free movement toward one or the other end of the bar when the latter is up ended.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a calisthenic bar as described, including yielding means at the ends of the bar engageable by said weighty body for cushioning its impact.

:Still another object of the invention is to provide a calisthenic bar in which the weighty body is a mass of spherical particles such as shot.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the following specification:

AFigure 1 is a longitudinal section through a calisthenic bar embodying the principles of the invention, taken in a radial plane;

Figure 2 is a cross-section in a diametrical plane intermediate the ends of the bar;

`Figure 3 is a. diagrammatic view showing an exercise in which the bar is translated in a direction perpendicular to its axis;

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view oi a wrist rotat-ing exercise, using the bar, the three phases illustrated at c, d and e representing falling positions of the weighty body.

Referring now in detail to the several gures, the calisthenic bar as a whole is designated by the numeral I. It comprises a hollow open ended tube 2 of any desired length, and preferably of uniform cross-section throughout its length. As shown, it has rubber caps 3, frictionally fitting on its ends and closing its ends. The tube is partially filled with a mass of shot.

,The essential condition is that the shot shall llkthe bore of the tube 2 only part way, whether they are distributed horizontally as in Figure l, or massed in one end portion of the tube, as in Figure 4. The weight of the shot may be varied according to the strength of the person using the calisthenic bar. by withdrawing some or adding g?,` "more, access to the interior of thewtubefbelng'had by removingloneoflthe caps 3.

.Figure 3 shows an exercise 4commonlyei'iiplbyed for. reducing, the waistline andt abdomen byexcrcisingf them-luscles-of the lower trunk... In this, the-,patientvI-iessupinevcnwthe floor, wit-harms eX- tended above the head. The object iste riseto a stable sitting position, without lifting the feet from the door, and with the arms maintained extended. This is accomplished rst by a quick, rather than a sustained movement of the ventral muscles which swings the body to an upright position just short of the vertical. At this point the arms are snapped in e, forward direction, bringing the body to a position of upright stability.

The unaccustomed muscles of the beginner do not alone have the strength to effectively execute this arm movement, but by the aid of the subject calisthenic bar it is readily accomplished. The patient, when lying at, `holds the bar between both hands, parallel to the floor.. As the body is swung upward, the calisthenic bar describes an arc shown at X in Figure 3, the shot being positioned against the trailing side of the tube. As the top of this arc is reached, the arms are suddenly snapped forward from position a to position b. At the latter position, the muscle initiated movement ceases, whereupon, the shot through inertia fly against the leading side of the tube, giving a further impetus to the arm movement which carries the body past vertical dead center to a stable upright position.

Referring to Figure 4, this illustrates an exercise in which the calisthenic bar is employed to strengthen the muscles of the wrist and fore, arm. In doing this exercise, the calisthenic bar is held by one hand near one end. The shot falls two times for an amplitude of rotation of the wrist and fore arm through 270. In beginning this exercise, the wrist is swung outwardly as far as possible, as shown at phase c. The distance from the hand to the center of mass of the shot represents a lever arm which multiplies the effective weight of the shot. As the calisthenic bar is turned in the direction of the arrow, the muscular force is exerted in lifting the shot. When the calisthenic bar begins to reach the position shown at phase d, the shot leaves the upper end ofthe tube, thus momentarily nullifying the load' against which the muscles are stressed, followed' immediately by impact blow as the shot reach the lower end of the tube, which blow the muscles are called upon to resist.

As rotation of the wrist and fore arm continues through phase e, the shot again fall to the lower 3 end of the tube, creating another impact peak in the load resisted by the muscles.

Thus the exercise consists in opposingr muscular pressure to a variable load broken into a series of periodic impact impulses.

This exercise is particularly useful in building muscles which have become weakened through long disuse, and would be very tiring if the impact blows of the shot were to be transmitted to the muscles undampened. The rubber caps 3 serve as cushioning for tempering the sharpness of the blows. The fact that the shot are ilowable`v so that all of them are not stopped in their movement at the same instant also tends to atten the peaks of the impact blows s o that they are more gradually absorbed by the resisting muscles.

Y YThe above exercises are merely examples of an;l

What I claim as my invention is:

Calisthenic bar comprising a straight tubular member of such diameter throughout its length as to be gripped by the hand and of such length as to adapt it to one-hand manipulation, a freely movable mass of shot within said tubular member adapted to fall from end to end therein when said tubular member is turned end for end, and cushioning end caps of rrubber closing the ends of said tubular member exposed to contact by said shot for absorbing some of the impact shock v thereof.

JOHN C. CORE. JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

' UNITED STATES PATENTS Matysek July 30, 1940 

